A. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to door operating mechanisms and, more particularly to an assembly for operating the hopper doors of a railroad car of the type which may be utilized for the distribution of ballast along a railroad bed.
B. Prior Art
Door operating mechanisms for operating the hopper doors of railroad cars of the hopper type are well known in the art.
One of the problems in the operation of such mechanisms is achieving equal and even distribution of the ballast discharged from the ballast carrying hopper-type railroad cars. Another problem with the known hopper door operating mechanism is controlling the opening and closing of the hopper doors. Many of the known mechanisms are designed to be manually opened and closed which manifests an obvious problem of controlling the extent to which the hopper doors are opened to vary the discharge rate of the ballast during movement of the hopper car over the railroad bed.
One of the most difficult requirements of a hopper door control mechanism is the ability to control a rotational rather than linear open and close motion of the door.